The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust is located at Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) Central Workshop Gate, on Magadi Road in Nairobi. It is an elephant nursery that borders Nairobi National Park and provides a safe sanctuary for juvenile elephants that have been abandoned in Kenyan parks and reserves.
This non profit trust was created in 1977, soon after David Sheldrick, the anti-poaching warden of Tsavo National Park, passed away. David and his wife Daphne invented methods for rescuing orphaned black rhinos and elephants and restoring them to the wild. The trust now maintains close ties with Tsavo for these and other projects. A popular destination in Nairobi, the center is well-deservedly one of the most well-liked.
First-stage hand-rearing and development of milk-dependent newborn elephants takes place in the nursery. At around 2-3 years old, the elephants leave the Nursery and transfer to one of the DSWT’s Reintegration Centers in Tsavo East National Park, where they will eventually be released back into the wild. Ithumba and Umani Springs in the Kibwezi Forest are some other reintegration facilities.
Every day from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m., the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust is accessible to the public for one hour. You can see the infants being fed by their caregivers by hand at this time, as well as they take a mud bath or soil dusting. The tour is both entertaining and educational because to one of the keepers’ excellent presentation of the project’s history and goals, the difficulties elephants encounter in the wild, and the realities of hand-rearing very young wild animals. Additionally, you will get to meet the infants and discover a bit about each one’s history and personality.
